Things to Read Today: Earthquake Strikes Central Italy, ISIS Under Fire in Syria, and More

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy, killing at least 120 people and leaving dozens missing. Italian emergency crews were aiding the injured and searching for survivors in the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Pescara del Tronto and Accumoli, located close to the epicenter. Italy is particularly vulnerable to strong earthquakes, and the whole chain of Italy’s Apennine Mountains is sensitive to seismic movements because it links two major tectonic plates.

Earthquake in Central Italy Kills Dozens

Turkish and U.S. military forces launched a major offensive in northwestern Syria against Islamic State militants, trying to sever one of the extremist group’s last remaining supply routes and rein in U.S.-backed Kurdish militants, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Turkish special forces, tanks and armored personnel carriers moved into Syria as Turkish jets bombed Islamic State forces as part of a coordinated campaign to push the extremist group out of a strategic Syrian border town.

Turkish Tanks Move Into Syria to Clear Islamic State

Chelsea Clinton plans to remain on the board of the Clinton Foundation if her mother, Hillary Clinton, is elected president this fall, a decision which raises more questions for the charity formed by her father, former President Bill Clinton. However, it was unclear whether she would continue to raise money for the foundation.

Chelsea Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in July.

European astronomers announced their discovery of a small rocky planet potentially hospitable to life circling the star closest to our own solar system—our nearest neighbor in a galaxy dense with unexplored alien worlds. A team of 31 scientists from eight countries said they have convincing evidence that an Earth-size planet orbits a cool, red dwarf star called Proxima Centauri at just the right distance for liquid water, a necessity for the evolution of life as we know it, to exist on its surface.